worldmerge: part 2
by GaBeRock
Summary: Sailand and Astaria have appeared just off the coast of Hawaii and Max has two weeks to save the world. What next?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Tropical Sunshine and Krelp, What More Could You Ask For in a Vacation?

_Thoughts_

**Angel though speech**

**[Krelp thought speech]**

/

worldmerge part duex in

Three…

Two…

One…

/

Max POV

As unconsciousness slowly receded, I thought what could possibly have been the most profound thought in my life: _Oh CRAP_. I slowly opened my eyes, pushing myself cautiously off the ground. As soon as I was steady, I began to look around. My eyes widened. Every single +anima and soldier was out cold, although angel, the only flock member within eyeshot was stirring slightly. _ANNNNDDD _Hawaii was still being a tropical eyesore in the horizon. _Well that complicates things. _Then an idea came to me. I rushed inside of the mineshaft, completely forgetting about angel. I ran down until I found a closet door marked _Supplies_. I quickly opened it, rooting around in the darkness until I grabbed a bundle of rope. Removing the rope, I smiled. _Let's see how soldiers like being tied up. _I chuckled darkly as I ran out of the mineshaft and towards the opposing army.

Angel POV

I blearily woke up, wiping the unconsciousness from my eyes. I sat up, scanning the minds around me for activity most of the people around me were snoozing, although the other flock members seemed to be waking up. All except for one flock member. Max. I frantically looked around, fearing that she had been captured, I mean, we had our difference, but most of the time she acted like a mom to me. I quickly spotted her, near the enemy lines, tying up some soldiers. _Wait, whaaa? _I rubbed my eyes. And pinched myself, fearing it was just a dream, but thankfully, reality held. I smiled. **Hey max, where did you find that rope?** She quickly thought of a storage cabinet within the building. My smile widened. _Time to tie up some bad guys_, and no, I did not miss the irony in that thought.

(Line break)

Max POV

I had been tying up soldiers for nearly twenty minutes, the rest of the flock had woken up, probably because we were used to dimension hopping already, and some of the +anima had also woken up, including the +anima we met earlier. _Maybe +anima have a resistance to this kind of thing… _We had tied up almost all the soldiers, and I was taking a well-earned rest. Suddenly, I had an idea. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed in a number. I waited for three rings, turned off the phone and dialed again, this time getting a response on the first ring. "Maya," I asked, "are you still based in Hawaii?" A tinny, staticy, voice responded from the other side. "Why?"

"'Cause I'm gonna make a house call soon."

"But I thought you were in Texas?"

"As they say, stuff happens."

"Fine."

I turned the phone off and slipped it back in my pocket, before calling out to the flock. "We leave for Hawaii in two days."

(Line break)

Cleanup had gone faster than expected, but we were still going to get to Hawaii slower than expected. After all the enemy soldiers had been tied up, I had informed Crystala as to what had happened. As expected, she was reluctant to agree with me at first, but it was kind of hard to ignore _an entire freaking state _popping out of nowhere. Eventually, she had agreed to send out a ship with some +anima on it to find out what was going on, instead of just having them fly there, because I told her that while there _were _people that shared some of the same properties of +anima on Earth, they were few and far between _insert private snort here_ and there were also people who would capture +anima and do very, very bad things to them _insert private shudder here_. On the boat were me, my flock, Cooro, Nana, Senri, Rose, Husky, who, for a narcissistic bastard, was actually a pretty nice guy, as well as a few assorted +anima from Crystala's camp. I was on the prow of the boat, observing the waves when Angel thought-spoke into my head. **Max, I think you should hear this. **"Hear what?" I thought back, confuse. Suddenly, a silvery blur appeared in the water, gaining in altitude until it finally broke the surface. It was ovoid in shape, with a narrow snout and no fins, although I could make out what looked like vents that probably propelled it forward. It was silver in color and had two nose holes in the front of its body, meaning it was probably a mammal. **[Hello Max] **I twitched slightly in surprise, "What are you." I though. I stood there for a moment until I realized that it probably couldn't hear my thoughts. I tried again, this time vocally. "What are you?" **[I am Krelp,] **was its succinct reply. "But the last time I saw you guys you were all… gross!" It made a rumbling sound, which I immediately translate as chuckling. **[That is what I am here to tell you. Recently, we have discovered a virus, or more specifically, a retro-virus. As of now, it has only proliferated through the world's oceans, but soon, it will begin to infect humans. The effect of this virus is simple; if it infects a human, the human will die. Most of the time… You see, this virus has an interesting side effect. If it infects a normal human, the human will most likely die, but in some rare cases, it will mutate the human's genes into something superior, and if it infects a mutant or recombinant, it gives them new powers. We, the Krelp, are not human, but the virus has still changed us beyond recognition. Our Thinkers have determined that the virus will begin to infect humanity in two weeks, which gives you an ultimatum. You have two weeks to save the world.]**

/

And _now _I reveal the main plot. Gotta say something for delayed gratification, huh? Eternal thanks to NicoXChiku says Cata, My first reviewer _ever. _ If you want an OC in the story, whether +anima or mutant, please make a review stating

Name:

Age:

Appearance:

Gender:

Personality:

Race: (+anima, recombinant (like saying bird/human hybrid), or mutant.)

Powers (if any):

You may also add a small backstory, but don't make it too complicated or otherwise I won't be able to fit your character snugly into the story. Also, if it shows up, here is the worldmerge logo I just made up: └│┘ ○┌ Ⱡ∂₪≡┌g≡ (please make it show up, please make it show up.)

p.s. Bam! Yet _another _early update!

/


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Tick-tock

Max POV

I had just been given my mission. I finally knew what the crazy scientists meant when they said I was to save the world. What did I do? I'll give you a few hints. I did _not _have a witty retort. I did _not_ nod stoically_. _Are you stumped? Well if you guessed that I stood there, gaping like a fish, for the next thirty seconds then ding ding ding, we have a winner! Finally, realization sunk into my head. I had _two weeks _to save humanity. **[Do not worry, Maximum**. **You do not need to save all of humanity, most people will die. You only need to save the bits of humanity that are already prepared to live through the apocalypse.] **"Great." I muttered. "Nearly everyone is going to die, and with the survivors I need to build an entire civilization. Piece of cake. Isn't there anything I can to do save the people already alive?" **[No. Unfortunately, the contagion is already out of hand. I'm sorry, but there is no way that all of humanity can be spared, although, if it is any consolation, none of your friends in Astaria or Sailand will die, as their +anima genes will prevent that, although it will activate the dormant +anima genes of the rest of the people in the two countries.] **I sighed. At least there was some good news. "But wait, what do you mean their 'dormant +anima genes will activate?'" **[From what we have already sensed, all the people in Sailand and Astaria have dormant +anima genes, most likely from a previous retrovirus. Each and every person on the island has the potential to become a +anima by absorbing animal DNA around them. We also have reason to believe that the +anima retrovirus can infect other people, so people in the rest of the world will also have the capability to become +anima, which will lower the number of total deaths.] **I sighed, relieved. I couldn't save everyone, but I would be able to save at least quite a few people. "Thank you for the forewarning," I told the Krelp. It nodded, before jetting away.I felt a tap on my shoulder. I spun around, before realizing that it was only one of the sailors, a timid mouse +anima named Gero. "Ummm. Excuse me, miss, but are those things common around here, have you seen any before." I chuckled, before responding. "I have seen those before, but you don't need to be afraid. They are not at all common and they tend to stay away from humans."

By now we had reached the port. Instead of the peaceful landing we had envisioned we were surrounded by military vehicles, TV vans, and lots and lots of reporters. I was below deck, watching through a porthole, as was the rest of the flock, because we did not want to be recognized by the media; we had had much more than our share of being celebrities and we were tired of it. Outside, the +anima who had been piloting the ship, one of Crystala's generals named Zan, was being interviewed by a mass of curious reporters.

One of the reporters shoved the microphone even closer to Zan's face. "So what where these '+anima' you mentioned earlier? Is there anyone on the ship with a +anima?" The reporter shouted at Zan. "+anima, are, ummm… People… with the power to change part of their bodies into animals?" Zan replied, unsure of himself. The reporter nodded slightly, before asking, "but what about having +anima on-board?" Zan stood for a little bit, searching for an answer, before saying "we do have some +anima on board, but one of the people on board told me that there were people who would want to experiment on them, so I won't tell you which ones are +anima." A hush fell over the crowd. Finally a brave reporter broke the silence. "So… one of the people on board came from here? What was their name?" Zan scratched his head before saying "actually, eight people from 'here' are on board, their names are…"

I pulled back from the window. If we didn't leave soon, things would get hairy. "C'mon guys, up and at them!" I yelled to my flock, plus Ari, who were already ready. I felt a tug at my sleeve. I turned around, seeing Cooro. "Ummm… Can we come with you?" he asked, indicating himself, Nana, Husky, Senri and Rose. "We want to see what this place is like, and you guys seem like the only ones who know what's going on." I opened my mouth to tell him no, before reconsidering. Technically, he and his friends were mutants, and they weren't bad fighters either, plus, at the very least, they would be faster than Ratchet. "Sure." He smiled. "Great!" I nodded. "You guys should sneak off the ship. Meet us over there," I pointed at a small cove, surrounded by trees, about two miles from here, "in twenty minutes." He nodded.

(Line break)

Cooro POV

We had snuck off the ship twenty minutes ago, and had arrived at the beach right on time

. Just as we stepped onto the sand, a girl appeared out of nowhere. "Who are you, and why are you on our beach?" she asked in a cold tone. Senri growled at her, causing her to step back about three steps. I threw my hands up. "Wait! Are you Star?" I asked. "Yes..." she replied, wary. I smiled enthusiastically, hoping to set her at ease. "Max told us we'd find you here." "Max? You're lying! She disappeared two months ago, along with the rest of the flock!" "Oh really?" Fang whispered in her ear causing her to jump back right into Senri. I chuckled. I had seen him sneaking up on her the entire time we were talking, and I was wondering if she would notice. Fang looked around, giving one of his half smiles. "Maya, you can come out, we know you're there." He yelled towards the tree line. I heard a chuckle come from the forest. A girl stepped out. She was tall, she had blond hair… I did a double take. She looked exactly like Max! If it weren't for the pink streak in her hair, I wouldn't be able to tell them apart! I tuned to Fang. "You didn't tell us that Max had a twin!" He shrugged in reply. "Who are they?" the girl asked, indicating us. "Friends," Replied Fang. Pleased at his response, I asked "who are you?" "Maya. She replied to me. She directed her next comment to Fang. "Who are they, mutants?" confused, I asked "What are mutants?" She looked at me strangely. "How can you not know what mutants are? Are you from another dimension or something!" "Yep!" I replied cheerfully. She smacked her palm against her forehead, muttering "so that's what Max meant." Max stepped out of the trees behind her, startling Maya. "And _that's _why you don't doubt me," said Max smugly. Maya gave Max an exasperated half smile. "You have a lot to explain, Mac. You better come with me; you won't find our hideout unless we show it to you. C'mon." Maya indicated towards a point outside of our view.

(Line break)

Maya's "hideout" was actually more of a fortress. Apparently, they had come here three months earlier, because the other members of her "gang" kept complaining that they only staid in cold places. They had liked Hawaii, and had decided to stay here after they had found this cave. Apparently only because they thought it would be easily defensible, but I doubted that was their true reason. Max had explained the situation to Maya, and they had agreed to help, although it meant leaving their base, but everyone agreed, saving civilization was worth it.

/

Nothing much happening in this chapter, just kind of a transition chapter. I would like to announce that I have decided to shorten this story to only two parts. I will have a definite end, but I don't want to do the third part, which would be a sort of "epilogue story" because I have gotten little attention to this story, as well as because I just had a genius idea for an Inheritance cycle/+anima crossover, and I only want to do one story at a time, so I can fulfill my pledge to update weekly. Don't take this the wrong way though, I am thankful for the people who consistently read this story (looks at NicoXChiku says Cata. Thanks profusely.) But two people aren't much, I will finish this story, and I won't skimp on detail or rush it, but I want to move to the next story as soon as possible.

p.s. Update=early!

Now for the logo: └│┘ ○┌ Ⱡ∂₪≡┌g≡

Bye bye!

/


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Gang #2

/

**Ben423:**

So wait, fang, dude youre saying that the world is going to end? youre on some weird stuff, man, and i dont just mean the normul weird stuff, I mean the really weird stuff.

-in Las Vegas

**crystal_angel_three:**

The word is going to end? huh?

-very confused

**DoomDude_1342:**

Sweet! The world is ending! I can finally put my bomb shelter and guns and canned food and bottled water and penicillin and knives and bandages to use!

-Doom Dude O~*

(1)

Fang's POV

These responses were only some of the thousands I had gotten at the announcement that the Krelp had given a deadline for the world's destruction. The responses ranged from disbelief to paranoid maniacs (see DoomDude_1342) to the people who had actually offered help (you know who you are,) and even more surprising where those who weren't even mutants, such as Jessica F. We had decided to head up to New York, where many of those who had offered us help lived. Me and the rest of the flock, plus Cooro and Ari were flying there, Nana, Senri, Rose, Husky, Ratchet, and Holden were all going in Ratchet's car, Star running, and Dylan and Maya had decided to stay in Hawaii to ***cough cough*** make out ***cough cough*** protect the base. I adjusted my wingtips slightly, slowly losing altitude, Cooro mimicking my actions. I was teaching him to fly better, he was a pretty good flier already, but he could always improve. The others had been shocked at me volunteering, but in truth, Cooro actually felt like kind of a little brother to me. I saw Ratchet waving at me. I nodded at Cooro, saying "Keep doing that, I think Ratchet wants to talk to me."

I dove down, decelerating just as I reached the car and keeping pace besides it. "What is it?" I asked. Ratchet, still looking forward, said "you said the Krelp mentioned some kind of '+anima retrovirus' what's that mean?" I paused for a second, before replying. "I looked up retro-viruses on the internet, and apparently they're a kind of virus that mutates the genes of someone they infect. I think what a +anima retrovirus would be would be a virus that gave people the ability to become +anima, and I bet they would take the animal genes from their surroundings." Ratchet nodded, before asking cautiously "so does that mean that ordinary people who aren't from Astaria or Sailand will be able to become +anima?" I scratched my chin for a moment before replying at the same tempo. "I think so, I don't see why not, and I believe Max told me that the Krelp said that the virus was still active…" _wow, this is like a game of telephone. _Seeing that Ratchet had no other questions I flapped my wings until I was once again level with Cooro. "Now, move one of your wingtips down and try a barrel roll…"

(Line Break)

Cooro's POV

We had reached New York a few hours ago, and boy, was it large! I had thought that Honolulu was big, but this was amazing! We were at what the flock called an "Internet café" where there were bunches of "computers" which were these screens that changed color and showed different pictures depending on what you did with their "keyboard" and "mouse." It was amazing! The more I learned about this world, the more in awe I became. Finally, the first two of the people who had agreed to help us had appeared, Jessica and Mike, who Max and the rest of the "original" flock insisted on calling "Mac boy" in reference to the "Mac" he always carried, which I am told is a variety of these "computers." The first person, Jessica walked in smiling, although a bit self-consciously, but the second one, Mike, sort of shuffled, and constantly looked over his shoulder, like he was expecting to be attacked. They sat down in the checkered linoleum booth. Max looked at them for a few seconds before saying "I assume you know why you're here, but I suspect that it would probably be a good idea to restate why so there is no chance of you getting it wrong." Jessica and Mike nodded slightly. Max continued. "You two will be the leaders of the first human 'flock.' After the apocalypse, we will need leaders so everything does not dissolve into chaos." Jessica and Mike nodded again. Suddenly, Jessica asked a question. "But won't the apocalypse kill everyone? What is the point of getting kids organized when we're all going to die anyways?" Max gave a crooked smile. "Unfortunately, most people will die, but apparently, the virus will activate the +anima genes in every child, and they will survive the plague, but it is up to us as to whether they survive the apocalypse in general." Jessica nodded in relief. Mike scratched his chin before asking another question. "But how would we get the +anima genes?" Max nodded. "I thought you would ask that. The Krelp told me that the +anima gene is transferred through a retrovirus, so being near anyone from Sailand or Astaria could give you the +anima genes." Jessica and Mike nodded. Max stood up. "Let's go see the other kids who agreed to help us."

(Line break)

Jessica POV

I was raised by my mom, who was single. When I was eleven, she died, because we didn't have the money for cancer treatments. The government tried to move me to a foster home, but I didn't want to deal with some family I didn't know, so I ran away. At that time, I was living in California, and I was taken in by a gang called The Ghosts. Unlike all the gangs I had heard of, they weren't interested in territory wars or fighting, although they had lots of weapons. In reality, they were just a bunch of kids like me who had to leave their homes for whatever reason. About half of us were already mutants, although we kept that secret. Our skills had kept us safe and alive, and even happy. I myself am not a mutant, but when I heard that the flock was asking for help, I immediately signed up, because the flock had helped us before. Because I knew that millions, no, billions, of kids would lose their parents in the in the apocalypse, and I wanted to help as many as possible, just like the Ghosts had helped me. I already had some kids who said they would follow me. Even though I was only thirteen, I had turned out to be a really good leader, and people respected me for it. The only thing I wasn't sure about was Mike, the kid with the laptop.

I had heard that the flock knew Mike, but I had never expected to work with him. Max told me that he would be a sort of lieutenant, he wasn't that good of a leader, but he was smart and a really good tactician, and his hacking skills were on par with Nudge's. We were supposed to act as sort of a "mini-army," with me as the leader, Mac as a tactician, and everyone else… Doing whatever they were supposed to do. The kids we were supposed to lead were made up of two mutants, and six humans.

I walked into the concrete room, pausing to take in the battered pool table, old antenna TV, and dingy couch. I looked at the eight kids, one ten year old, a guy, two twelve year old twins, girls, three thirteen year olds like me, a two guy and a girl, one fourteen year old, a guy, and one sixteen year old, a girl, who, when I looked closer, had a feathered pattern to her hair. I began to speak.

(Line break)

Feather's POV

Four years earlier I had died. My "expiration date" appeared on the back of my neck during a fight with erasers. I had fought off the erasers, but had died soon after, but instead of going wherever I would have gone, heaven, hell, limbo, or whatever, I instead drifted through a multicolored tunnel. After I exited from the tunnel, I found my mind inhabiting a twelve year old body. I was flying over unfamiliar landscape, and as I looked backwards, I noticed… a whitecoat flying? Suddenly, the wings sprouting out of his back began to dissolve. I tried to help, even whitecoats don't deserve to go splat, but I was too slow. I watched in horror as he fell down to earth. Disturbed, I landed on the ground. As soon as I landed, I absorbed my wings back into my body, almost as a reflex action. Surprised, I began to check the rest of my new body for anything unexpected. Surprisingly, I had swirling black tattoos all over my body, cleverly hidden by makeup. While I looked, most of the tattoos began to disappear, although I kept a set of wing shaped tattoos on my back as well as slit, or, as I was to later find, gill shaped, tattoos on my neck. I began to explore the area, which I learned was called Astaria. I traveled around, finding out more about the country and what I was, a +anima. Finally, after four years of wandering, while I was on an island, the sky suddenly had what looked like a seizure. Soon afterwards, I blacked out. After I woke up again, I noticed the big island of Hawaii in the distance. I had flown there, and later had flown to New York. I noticed the announcement of Fang's blog about the end of the world, and now I had come full circle. I was in a dingy concrete room, listening to a girl named Jessica, helping the flock save the world.

/

W00t! I just finished my longest chapter yet! Again, mostly just a characters-talking chapter, but I am quite proud of the plot twist I added. Eternal thanks to NicoXChiku says Cata, My first reviewer ever, and I also have to thank her for her OC, Jessica. I hope I portrayed your OC right! Again, I am still accepting characters, including the characters in Jessica's new Gang. I only have one mutant space right now, cause Feather/Blanca takes up the other one, so if you make a +anima then you will probably have to wait a while to see them, although I can change one of the people in the gang to a +anima later, which is what I plan to do with Jessica. OC forms are as such:

Name:

Age:

Appearance:

Gender:

Personality:

Race: (+anima, recombinant (like saying bird/human hybrid), or mutant.)

Powers (if any):

Backstory: (nothing too complex, I need to fit the characters into the story smoothly.)

And now for the logo! └│┘ ○┌ Ⱡ∂₪≡┌g≡

(1) All the spelling and grammar mistakes in the "Fang's blog" section were intentional. If you know anyone who doesn't make spelling mistakes while on the internet, I will flip out.

/


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Doomsday and Jeb; my day must be actively trying to suck.

Cooro's POV

I must admit, the décor was pretty impressive. Max's "acquaintances" really knew how to decorate, and yards and yards of featureless gray "concrete" was really impressive. Note my sarcasm. Today I was in a really bad mood. Max had ordered me to stay inside this "bunker" because I was, as she said, "liable to flip out at every gosh-darned electronic thing that beeped at you (me)." Admittedly, she was right; although it hadn't been _my _fault I had attacked the "refrigerator," a large rectangular white box that was storing food, it made some very threatening beeping noises. On a whim, I decided to visit Jessica. I strode down the hall until I reached a door with "Gang #2" carved onto it crudely, most likely with a pocket knife. I knocked three times before opening the door. As soon as I saw the kids on the couch I zeroed in on one of them, my eyes widening. "_…Blanca!_"

Feather's POV

Someone knocked on the door three times before entering the room. It was the black haired boy that I had seen with Max, although he hadn't seemed to have noticed me. His eyes widened noticeably. "_…Blanca!_"

I blinked. "You know…knew who owned this body?"

He blinked to, just as confused as I was. "But… You were an artefeciel… ertaficial… artificial! Life form, Fly said you couldn't even think!"

Jessica butted in. "Cooro, don't insult her, she is a mutant, we know that."

Cooro shook his head violently. "You don't understand! I saw her in _Astaria_."

"Wait," I interrupted him. "You knew who did this? What happened, whose body was this?"

Cooro scratched his chin, where the barest of pre-beard stubble was beginning to appear. "Ummm… Fly said that some researchers found the body in the tunnels under a city… They named the body Blanca, but they said that there didn't seem to be… anyone… _in_ the body. They could have been lying, but somehow I don't think so…"

I gave a little sigh of relief. At least I hadn't ejected someone out of their own body. I nodded. "So why are you here?"

Cooro's POV

I shrugged. "I was bored. Problem?" Jessica began to speak, but suddenly all the alarms went off. I plugged my ears with my fingers. "WHAT IS GOING ON?"

"I DON"T KNOW! WE BETTER GET TO MAX!" Jessica shouted back at me, just barely making herself heard over the sirens.

(Time break)

I pushed open the door to the unofficial "command room" of the bunker, where Max, Nudge, and Angel slept. At a glowing blue computer monitor at the far edge of the room were Nudge and Max, Nudge typing furiously and Max looking over her shoulders. "What-"

Max interrupted me. "What is going on? Every single sensor that we set up has been tripped! It's like we're under a full scale assault!"

"By who?" I asked.

"We don't-"Max paused, looking at the screen. "Nudge, can you freeze that? Thanks." She and Nudge stood out of the way, revealing a hooded person holding up a sign that said "Doomsday Group."

"Who are they?" Blanca Feather asked Max,

Max looked at Feather strangely. "How could you not know? I can excuse Cooro, he was in another dimension when this happened, but you were here, weren't you?"

Feather shuffled awkwardly. "Well... Ummm…"

Max cut her off. "Explain later. We have some fanatics to chase off."

(Time break)

Max's POV

I looked over the edge of the wall, seeing that it was safe before moving on. We had been fighting the Doomsday Group people for a little over five minutes now and even in that short of time, we had cleared out most of them. Suddenly, I felt gloved hands grasp my neck, choking the breath out of me. My hands pulled at the unknown person's hands, but they refused to release their grip. "He-help…" I managed to get out before fainting, the blurry shapes of my flock in the distance.

(Time break)

I woke up, like many other times, strapped to furniture, although, to my relief, it was a chair and not an operating table -I know, it wasn't much of an improvement, but hey, when you're a bird kid being hunted by maniacal scientists, you take whatever you can get. I spotted a person in a lab coat looking at several monitors, their light the only illumination in the room. The person turned to me. My breath hitched. "J-Jeb?"

Instead of the confident Jeb I had known, this person was haggard and worn. He hadn't shaved for weeks, and from his twitching hands I could gather that he had been drinking _way _to much coffee. "Hello… _Max…_" He said, enunciating my name. "We are… very... glad that you are safe… When you disappeared… we thought… you had died…"

I blinked. "Looks like _someone _forgot how to use a razor." Jeb had been like a father figure to me, and even though I was being myself –making snarky comments, showing false bravado- on the outside, seeing Jeb like this was, to say the least, quite disturbing.

Jeb rushed up to me and slapped me. I gasped in shock. "_What. Is your problem?_" I yelled at him, disturbed.

His eyes were cold. "Do not play with me. You were created for a purpose, and that purpose was not to insult your _father_."

"Fat lot of good you being my _father _ever did! You left us to fend Jeb I knew, but something was different. "Max, you must trust me. Everything I have done, every test, every challenge, was to get you ready for this situation."

"What situation? The apocalypse! You guys didn't even predict this! You had no idea that either Astaria or Sailand existed!" I replied, my voice cold.

Jeb just shook his head, saying in a genial voice "Max, Max, Max… It doesn't matter that we didn't predict this, it amounts to the same thing, and even if this hadn't happened, the 'apocalypse' would still had come." His tone was _really _beginning to annoy me. Finally I realized something.

"You aren't Jeb! You're the Voice! But… How?"

Jeb- the Voice- smiled. "Ahh, I see you are beginning to understand. I am not Jeb- in a way. I am a different aspect of his personality. An aspect that is not as emotional or rash, an aspect that knows _exactly _how to manipulate you."

I growled. "So you used me. Plain and simple."

"Yes." He-it? - Replied. "I did use you, but you must agree, it _was_ for the greater good. The training I gave you will assist you greatly after the apocalypse. You will be able to become a great leader; you will be able to unite people under one flag and singlehandedly return civilization to the world."

"I am a _person _and _you_ are a delusional maniac, now let me out of this chair so I can use my so-called 'training' to inflict some serious butt-whooping on you."

He shook his head condescendingly. "Max, Max, Max. You will understand this all eventually, I just hope you come to terms with it sooner rather than later." I felt a prick on my arm and quickly began to feel woozy. "_Crap…_" I managed to mutter weakly before passing out.

(Time break)

I woke up to Fang's face looking down me with concern. "Max? Are you okay?" he asked, unusually un-fang like, "What happened?"

"A crazy delusional maniac captured me. Just like old times."

/

Whoo! This was a hard one to get done on time. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to remove the weekly tag to the summary, schoolwork is really piling up and _someone _***coughcoughcough*** my mom ***coughcoughcough*** signed me up for swimming without asking me first. I will still try to update weekly, but it might not be as consistent.

/


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Midwestern Epidemic

(Jessica's POV)

We and the flock had gone our separate ways two days ago, to recruit more people. The +anima had decided to come with us; the flock were flying and only two of them could fly, while we were taking an RV on our trip. I was driving; I was the only one who could drive, and I had a fake I.D. and driver's license to boot. I heard the T.V. turn on behind the blue curtain that divided the driver's area and the main area.

_"In recent news, more and more children in near death situations are transforming into '+anima' which apparently were indigenous to the countries 'Astaria' and 'Sailand,' the countries one the large island that appeared near Hawaii. According to the Astaria and Sailand ambassadors, '+anima' is a word used to refer to people who develop the ability to morph parts of their body into animal body parts. +anima also have markings in place of the animal parts when the animal parts, or 'anima' are withdrawn into the body. Ted, you have the camera."_

_ "Well thank you Jena. In other news, large swathes of the Midwest are being affected by a virus that has a nearly 100% infection rate, although its only effects are to cause sniffling, runny noses, and coughing, and it only stays in your system for a few days, not unlike a very viral version of the common cold."_

I heard the TV turn off. Cooro peeked through the blue divider. "Aren't we going to some place in the Midwest? Owia or something? Isn't that dangerous?"

I shrugged "Yeah, but you heard the lady; it doesn't really do anything, so we're safe."

"Hmmm…" Cooro grunted. He didn't seem satisfied with my answer, but he took my word for it, ducking back through the curtain. I took my left hand off the wheel and massaged my temple. I truly hoped the epidemic wouldn't amount to much, but you never knew. I sighed. 4 more hours of driving to go

(Time break)

(Cooro's POV)

I stretched slightly before getting out of the RV. Over the past few hours I had undertaken a "crash course" on this world's technology, as had Husky, Nana, Rose, and Senri. You would never believe it, but out of all of us, Senri seemed to take to technology the best. After just an hour of "instruction" by out impromptu teachers and he was already "surfing" the web like a pro. He had actually managed to find a website about programming, and had annexed one of the RV's laptops for pretty much the entire ride programming… _something_… Even Mac, the computer dude (his real name was Mike, but everyone just decided to call him Mac) couldn't figure out what he was programming, due to how his style was like. I smiled, taking in the Midwestern sun. On both sides of me were corn fields, the corn just beginning to turn golden. Out of the corn field, a guy, or a girl- his/her sex was indistinguishable- stepped out in front of us. S/he was wearing a baggy camo overcoat, baggy camo pants, a baggy camo shirt, and, I was willing to bet, baggy camo underwear.

"You must be the group that was coming. Follow me." She said to us (I could now identify her as a girl due to her voice.) She coughed.

"Does your cough have anything to do with this epidemic?" I asked.

"Yeah. It'll pass in maybe a day, although you'll probably get it from one of us first. Don't worry, so far it seems harmless."

"_Seems _harmless?"

She shrugged. "Yeah. It doesn't seem to much more than make you cough; it doesn't even raise your temperature. Come on." She motioned towards the cornfield.

"Fine." I shrugged. Hopefully she was right; at least it didn't seem like the epidemic Max was telling us about, except for its virility. We followed her into the cornfield.

(Time break)

After trudging through the cornfield for about a minute before finally reaching a small bunker dug into the corn field. The camo girl took out an I.D. card from her jacket and passed it in front of a scanner. The scanner flashed green and beeped at us before causing a door to open in the bunker. Inside of the bunker were an empty room and a staircase spiraling downwards. I shrugged. "Let's go."

We walked down the staircase for almost two minutes until finally reaching the bottom, a cylindrical room with a door and an electronic keypad. The camo girl keyed something into the keypad. The door opened outwards into a white room. "Welcome to HQ," said the girl. I tried not to roll my eyes but failed. The girl led us down a white corridor, pointing at rooms and describing their functions, until she reached a door marked "Prez's Office." She turned to us, saying "Sorry, only your leader goes past here for now. You guys can hang out in that room." She pointed at a room marked entertainment before opening the door just long enough for Jessica and her to get through.

I shrugged. "Let's go."

As we filed into the room, I heard one of the kids in Jessica's Gang cough; it was Mike, her "lieutenant." Nana looked at him. "Are you OK?"

He nodded. "Yeah, the virus just seems to be even more infectious than I thought."

For the next twenty minutes, we sat in the room and watched TV, until, finally, the door opened. Jessica came in. "Prez-***cough***- their leader, says that we can-***cough***-go to the main complex."

Nana replied. "That's great. Are you OK? You're the second person who's caught this disease!"

"Yeah, I'm fine. But-" Before Jessica could complete her sentence, her eyes rolled back into her head, and he slumped to the ground.

"Jessica! JESSICA!" Nana shouted, panicking. She kneeled down and shook Jessica's shoulder, just as the other noticed the commotion and started to come over.

My breath hitched. On her shoulders, I could see the faint outlines of +anima markings.

/

Just a disclaimer, this is not the actual epidemic, this is a mini-arc I thought up to move the story along, and I don't plan to kill anyone off. I need input- should I continue this mini-arc for just one more chapter, or extend it to two? Also, I realized I didn't add a disclaimer to this story, so here it is:

**I do not own either +Anima or Maximum Ride, and probably never will.**

There. No more disclaimers. And now for the logo! └│┘ ○┌ Ⱡ∂₪≡┌g≡ Please review!

/


	6. Chapter 6

(Jessica's POV)

_I felt tears drip down my cheeks. "Mom! Mom! Don't die!" I cried. No matter what I did, she just wouldn't get better. Finally, the doctors shepherded me gently out of the room._

"_It'll be fine. I know you can't afford the chemotherapy, but we'll do the best we can."_

_No matter what he said, I couldn't believe him. And I was right. Just three hours after I left her room, a doctor came out. "I'm sorry, but your mother is dead. I offer my deepest condolences…" After that, I stopped listening. She was dead, and nothing could change that. Nothing._

I felt a hand shaking me. I slowly opened my eyes. "Whaa? Wassgoinon?"

Nana's face appeared over me. She sighed in relief. "Pheew… for a while we had thought that Max had been wrong and the pandemic had already started."

I looked to my sides. To the left of me was Prez, who was also in a bed, although he was breathing soundly. "What happened?"

"You were talking and then suddenly you keeled over! I thought you had died, then and there!" Anna and Sarah, the thirteen year old twins, said in synch.

I smiled. "Nah. As you can see, I'm very much alive."

Nana pushed through the twins. She twiddled her fingers, uncomfortable, for a few seconds before beginning to speak. "Erm… Jessica, can you lower the neckline of your shirt a bit? I need to see your back."

I pushed down the back of my shirt down slightly, curious. On my back was a long, black, tattoo of lots of diamonds. "What happened? Did someone tattoo me while I was zonked out?" I asked incredulously.

"No." Nana shook her head. "Those are +anima markings."

After checking if I was fully clothed (I was) I removed my blanked and stepped onto the floor. Looking at Nana, I asked "How do I… Is it summon? Summon my +anima?"

Nana scratched her chin. "Well… I don't really know how you'd do it. I usually concentrate on my +anima and it just pops out, but you don't even know what your +anima is… Try closing your eyes and _feeling _your way through it…"

I shrugged. Any advice was good advice. I closed my eyes and tried to empty my head. It didn't work. _Gosh, this is boring. I wonder who's going to win the World Cup? I wonder if the president will get re-elected? I wonder- _I mentally slapped myself. _This isn't working!_ No matter how hard I tried to clear my mind, nothing worked. Finally, I gave up. I just let whatever wanted to take up thought space to do it. Finally, I remembered my dream. But it wasn't a dream. I usually tried to keep that memory locked away, that time held a lot of bad memories, but today I just gave up. I relived the entire memory, and just as a single tear escaped my eyes, I felt something sprout out of my back. I opened my eyes, and to either side of me were pure white wings.

Suddenly, in the back of my head, I felt a tingling sensation. I closed my eyes, and around me I could… well… no _see_, but more of _feel_ the presence of people, or more specifically, Nana and Cooro… and Prez? The +anima in the room. From each one of them I got a sense of what kind of anima they had, I could sense Nana's Bat, Cooro's Crow, and Prez's Raccoon, and from Cooro I could get a dim feeling of a tentacle, not so different from what I was sending out. Although it was more confused, I also sensed an _energy _about it that hinted of it being able to do things other than sense +anima.

The door to the room opened. A concerned looking sixteen year old, tall, but not as tall as me, with blond hair and purple highlights, strode into the room. Seeing me awake, she immediately game a relived sigh. "Thank God! For A while we had thought that the pandemic had arrived ahead of schedule!"

I shook my head. "Nah. This is probably related to the pandemic, but it isn't the pandemic itself. I just had the fainting spell because I had been infected by the +anima genes."

She nodded, mollified, before assuming a puzzled expression and asking 'But what about Prez?"

"He's a +anima now too. He's a Raccoon."

"How do you know?"

"I can sense it."

More confused than she was originally, she gave up her train of questioning. "If you need me, Just call for me, okay? Kthnkxby!" She strode out of the room as quickly as her dignity would allow.

Noticing that my wings were out, I retracted them, as much as a reflex as a conscious decision.

I looked at Nana. "I guess we'll have to cut our trip short- Max needs to know about this."

She nodded. As we left the room I noticed the sixteen year old who had been acting as a doctor. "We have to go. When Prez wakes up, tell him he's a +anima, and to let out his +anima, he should focus or raccoons. Got it?"

She nodded. I think she was still wary at me, but I let the though go. She could think what she wanted- it wasn't my problem.

(Cooro's POV)

Back in that room, I had felt _something_. It definitely had something to do with how Jessica had known that Prez was a +anima, but I wasn't quite sure what. After we had left the compound, Jessica always seemed to know where me, Nana, and the other +anima in our group where. I think it is basically the same thing that I do, but much more precise, but I had long since decided I didn't care; currently, beating Husky in Super Smash Sister's Brawl was the most important thing to me.

(Max's POV)

I had just gotten off the phone with Jessica, and had learned about the effects of the epidemic. This could be either good or bad, on the bad side, it could mean that the pandemic was coming much faster than we had expected, but on the good side, it meant that we were going to get a _lot _of new recruits.

/

Hmmm… I decided to end this arc in two chapters because I felt that it wasn't really going anywhere, and it was really only a venue to turn Jessica into a +anima, but it served its purpose rather well. I have an RP I run on a different forum that I am currently curating and editing with another member, and I should have the first four or so chapters on within two weeks, and I'll post the link in another author note when its up. Thanks for reading! Plz review! ~~ └│┘ ○┌ Ⱡ∂₪≡┌g≡ ~~

/


	7. Chapter 7

(Max's POV)

As soon as Jessica came back with the RV, with a +anima and a story of a new epidemic I knew, as they say, the crap had really hit the fan. And it had. The next two weeks was spent in an insane flurry of preparation- recruiting candidates, stockpiling supplies, getting ready. And it paid off. At exactly the time the krelp had predicted the epidemic went off. It began slowly at first; just some people had it and it seemed just like an ordinary flu, but it wasn't. By the end of the week people were dropping like flies, with not even time to get to the hospitals, not that it would help- the doctors were infected too. By the end of the month, the entire world had been decimated, cities abandoned, refuse and dead bodies littered the streets. Only the mutants, as predicted, had survived. I do not know, and may never know if either my mom or Jeb had survived; as far as I knew they were just normal people, but… We had left the continental United States, all twelve thousand of us mutants and newly turned +anima who had banded together in anticipation of this catastrophe, and now we were on Hawaii, building a better life, one building at a time. I gazed into the sunset on a secluded rock high up the main island's active volcano holding Fang's hand. We would rebuild, and we would do it better than the adults ever had. We plans for the future, from short term, such as building houses, to long term, such as expanding back into the rest of the world, but for now I was content to just hold Fang's hand.

/

I realized that this story had stagnated, so I decided to give it a quick, hopefully painless end. I may or may not do a sequel to this, but if I do it will not be in the form of a sequel, I will summarize previous events and hope more people decide to read it. For all the trouble I had writing this story, I still feel kind of sad that it is over- just as I finish it I can smell new plotlines for it on the horizon, but I digress. I recently started another story, an inheritance cycle/+anima crossover that demands my attention, so to those of you who read this and commented on it, especially you, NicoXChiku says Catac thank you and goodbye!

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~~ └│┘ ○┌ Ⱡ∂₪≡┌g≡ ~~

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/


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